Teaching Awards

Curriculum and Teaching

Nominations for these awards are handled by the College Curriculum and Teaching Committee and the office of the Associate Dean in 105 Foust. Send all correspondence to 105 Foust Building.

• Call for nominations: Teaching Excellence Award
• Call for nominations: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award

TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

• Each College faculty member will receive a memo from the College Curriculum and Teaching Committee calling for nominations.
• The College will make three awards: one to a senior faculty member with tenure, a second to a junior faculty member on the tenure-track and a third to a professional-track faculty member.
• All nominees must have taught at UNCG for at least three years.
• There is a monetary award associated with this honor.
• The criteria for this award follow the guidelines for distinguished teaching in the University Handbook for Faculty:
  • Outstanding success in facilitating student learning;
  • Outstanding success in facilitating student interest;
  • The establishment and maintenance of high academic standards;
  • Substantial influence on the academic and professional pursuits of students;
  • Outstanding success in guiding and facilitating student research, scholarship or artistic accomplishment (particularly relevant to graduate teaching);
  • Consistent success in making complex ideas and concepts understandable and meaningful to students.
• The deadline for Nomination Letters to be emailed to 105 Foust is usually around the middle of October. The exact deadline will be printed in the memo announcing the call for nominations.
• Each nominee will receive an “acknowledgement of nomination” memo from the College Curriculum and Teaching Committee. This memo asks nominees to email a nomination packet to the College of Arts and Sciences, [email protected]. The deadline for Nomination Packets to be emailed to 105 Foust is usually around the third week of January. The exact deadline will be printed in the memo acknowledging the nomination.
• A nomination packet should include:
  1. A nomination letter; the College will provide this in your packet after it’s received.
  2. An itemized list of all materials in the portfolio;
  3. A statement of the teaching philosophy, and specific methods drawn from that philosophy, that you use to achieve your educational goals. Include examples of what you have done with students that enables them to grow and learn beyond the classroom (500 words maximum);
  4. A statement (1500 words maximum) which includes:
     
     a. a brief description of your teaching responsibilities and the scope of your teaching (courses taught with typical enrollment over at least 3 years and, as relevant, teaching-related publications, awards, grants, service, workshops, conferences, course or curriculum development, advising, directed student projects, graduate theses or dissertations, interdisciplinary and/or interdepartmental teaching)
     
     b. a discussion of the steps you use to evaluate, improve, or enhance your teaching, including redesign of courses or teaching innovations
     
     c. choose three courses for which you are responsible.  Explain how they are each taught and how each reflects your teaching philosophy (please take care to define any specialized disciplinary language).
  5. Representative materials and course syllabi from the three courses chosen in 4.c. above (10-page maximum);
  6. A one-page summary of all student course/teaching evaluation data for the last three years available. These data should suggest improvements over time or produce an overall rating of effectiveness;
  7. Copies of TWO peer evaluations of teaching at UNCG, both of which include a classroom observation with evaluation;
  8. Two additional typed letters of support, one from a current or former student and one from a colleague who may be your department head or program director.
  9. CV

OUTSTANDING GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT AWARD

• Each Administrative Council member and Graduate Director will receive a memo from the College Curriculum and Teaching Committee calling for nominations.
• Nominations and supporting documentation should be emailed to the College of Arts and Sciences; the deadline is usually the end of January. The exact deadline will be printed in the memo announcing the call for nominations.
• Faculty members, students, staff, and alumni can make nominations.
• There is a monetary award associated with this honor.
• The criteria follow the guidelines for distinguished teaching in the University Handbook for Faculty. Nominations and supporting document must include the following items:
  • Nomination letter (not to exceed two typewritten pages)
  • Letter seconding the nomination (not to exceed two typewritten pages)
  • Evaluation of the nominee’s teaching by their faculty supervisor, the Department Head, or the Graduate Director
  • Nominee’s student id number
  • Teaching portfolio – should include a statement of teaching philosophy, methods, and syllabus or syllabi. In addition, the portfolio might include supplementary material, including letters from students and fellow faculty members which discuss teaching style and student success, teaching evaluations, assignments, and samples of student work. Supplementary material should not exceed 20 pages. The teaching portfolio can be prepared by the nominee, their faculty supervisor, the Department Head or Graduate Director.
• A selection subcommittee of the College Curriculum and Teaching Committee will review all nominations and select the winners.